STAGING A COMEBACK: Emerson Colonial Theatre to reopen July 10

By R. Scott Reedy, Correspondent

Wednesday

Jun 27, 2018 at 6:00 AMJul 2, 2018 at 2:03 PM

Theater lovers in Boston and beyond, take note. It is time to rejoice. The Emerson Colonial Theatre is back.

Thanks to a recently completed restoration by its new operator, the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), the Emerson Colonial’s considerable glory will be on full display when the pre-Broadway engagement of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” begins performances there on July 10.

Closed since October 2015, a construction problem earlier this month delayed the theater’s previously scheduled June 27 reopening.

“Overnight on June 8, into June 9, there was a construction-related support issue with the steel grid above the stage at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. The issue has been resolved. No one was in the building at the time of the incident," said Emerson Colonial Theatre spokesman Robert Jones in a statement released June 18.

“With safety concerns a top priority, crews have worked around the clock to restore the steel grid support and ensure its integrity moving forward,” the statement said.

No one familiar with the Colonial’s long, rich history will be surprised, however, when the theater emerges from this latest challenge better and stronger than ever.

“The way we look at it at ATG is that we provide people a special moment in their lives. To do that by making live theater available to people is an honor. To do it in this historic building is to immediately connect with all that’s happened here,” said Emerson Colonial General Manager Erica Lynn Schwartz by telephone recently.

Designed by famed architect Clarence H. Blackall, the Colonial opened its doors on Dec. 20, 1900, with a production of “Ben-Hur” that had a cast and crew of 350 – not to mention eight live horses on stage during a chariot-race scene.

The Colonial’s storied history with pre-Broadway tryouts was underway when Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” with Ethel Merman, opened there in 1934, followed the next year by George and Ira Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II brought their first collaboration – a musical initially called “Away We Go!” – to Boston in 1943. Retitled “Oklahoma!” after its opening number, the show would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize and become a staple of the American musical theater.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second show together, “Carousel,” also made a pre-Broadway stop at the Colonial, in 1945, followed the next year by “Annie Get Your Gun,” an Irving Berlin musical starring Merman.

Other musicals trying out at the Colonial included Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” and “A Little Night Music,” George and Ira Gershwin’s “My One and Only,” Jerry Herman’s “La Cage Aux Folles,” and Robert Wright and George Forrest’s “Grand Hotel.”

New plays such as Garson Kanin’s “Born Yesterday,” Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn’s “Foxfire,” and Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo” also played the Colonial prior to Broadway.

The latter, a comedy starring Carol Burnett, was the subject of the 1997 Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker documentary “Moon Over Broadway,” filmed at the Colonial and at Broadway’s Martin Beck Theatre, now the Al Hirschfeld.

The Global Creatures production of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” will run through Aug. 19. Schwartz says what follows will be a lineup of not only musicals and plays, but also concerts, headliner comics, and more. Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright will bring his “All These Poses” anniversary tour to the Emerson Colonial on Dec. 5.

Also in the coming season, Broadway in Boston will present three of its offerings there – “The Play That Goes Wrong” Nov. 7–18, “The Illusionists” May 5–10, and “Kinky Boots” May 7–12.

In January, Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton announced the signing of a long-term lease with the U.K.-based ATG, an international theater management and producing organization, to operate the Emerson Colonial Theatre.

With the ink not yet dry on the lease, ATG began restoring the lavishly appointed theater. A collaboration between Elkus Manfredi Architects, and Consigli Construction Co., headquartered in Milford, the current renovation hearkens to the building’s original design while incorporating modern back-of-house technology and a renovated dressing-room area.

A crew of 40 has spent 170 days – 37,500 man-hours – on everything from plaster repair, painting and hand stenciling by John Tiedemann Inc., to installing a new marquee and all new seats in the orchestra section, and replacing all seat cushions in the mezzanine and balcony areas.

In addition to renovated restrooms and roomier seats, with additional accessible locations, guests are also sure to notice the new color scheme in the orchestra section and the new, custom-made carpet throughout the theater.

“We realized that the original color was blue when we pulled some chips off the walls. So it just made sense to recreate it. The ceiling has always been teal and turquoise, but the walls were red. Now it’s much more cohesive,” explained Schwartz.

The 42,048 square feet of new carpet installed throughout the building was designed and manufactured by Brintons, the British firm that made the Colonial’s original carpet in 1900. The company used pattern books from 1899, 1900 and 1901 to create the new design.

With a new women’s restroom entrance, the onetime Ladies’ Lounge is now open to all. It remains home to a green onyx table bearing a signature chip left by Bob Fosse when, during the Blizzard of ’78, the legendary director/choreographer hopped up on the table to try out a new tap routine for his musical “Dancin’.”

The minor damage only added to the table’s provenance, however, and when the Colonial changed owners in 1981, the exiting Jujamcyn Theaters is believed to have packed the table to go. Missing for more than a dozen years, the table was tracked down by then Colonial operator Jon B. Platt during his 1995 renovation of the theater, and returned to its rightful home.

It is that kind of theater history and more that ATG is celebrating with this latest restoration, according to Schwartz.

“We look at this as a historical restoration, but it’s ‘history meets modern.’ We tried to find as much as we could that would reflect the original design in terms of colors and style, while recognizing that it’s 2018,” she said.

That recognition also prompted the decision to completely replace the original wooden grid and rigging system, manually operated with ropes and sandbags, with a new steel grid and electronic counterweight system.

“There was something very special about the sand and hemp system, but there’s more demand on these buildings today and that has to be met,” pointed out Schwartz. “Efficiency is very important.”

As is guest experience, evidenced by three new bars including a lower-level space repurposed as a premium-experience Ambassador Lounge. A feature of all ATG venues, it affords VIP guests express entry once past security, a complimentary drink, light refreshments, a private bar and restroom, and a private staircase into the theater from the room.

The new era at the Emerson Colonial follows an uncertain period that began almost three years ago, following a sold-out run of “The Book of Mormon.” Emerson College, the building’s owner since 2006, closed the theater in order to replace the HVAC system. Before long, Emerson began floating ideas for repurposing the theater that included converting it into a dining hall.

Public outcry against that plan was swift, and a “Save the Colonial” social-media movement – involving everyone from Emerson faculty, students and alumni, to theatergoers, historic preservationists and even Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim – soon formed to stop it cold.

“I feel like we are the Colonial’s new shepherd. The biggest honor, so far, has been how welcomed we’ve been by the City of Boston and its people. They thank us for saving the Colonial,” said Schwartz.

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